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[Desktop][Your Library] Bring Back Separate Song Title and Artist

Not sure who thought it was a great idea to reformat how one can view songs by artist or by title...? It is much more convenient to have the two, side by side, while viewing a library rather than only being able to view the artist name or song name under the other...

Updated on 2023-11-14

Hey folks,

 

Thanks for coming to the Spotify Idea Exchange and voting to make this happen.

 

We're happy to announce that a Compact mode which hides the album art and displays the song's title and artist under two separate columns in playlists and albums is now available on the desktop app and the Web Player! Check out @MattSuda's post here for a detailed overview.

 

Once again, thanks for helping us make Spotify better by participating here on the Community 💚

Top Answer
MattSuda
Spotify Star

Good news!

 

There is now a new Compact Mode for track lists (playlists and album pages) in the desktop app and Web Player

 

The drop down menu now has "Sort by" and "View as" options. To turn on compact mode, open up the drop down menu at the top right of a playlist or album page and click on "Compact" under "View as".

 

On Playlist pages, it removes the album art, and breaks out "Title" and "Artist" into their own separate columns again. This view is similar to before the redesign that added album art into playlists a few years ago.

 

On Album pages, it moves the artist and featured artists from below each track title, to a new "Artist" column to the right of the "Title" column.

 

When you turn on Compact Mode, it will be remembered and stay on when you are viewing both playlists and album pages. You can switch back to the regular "List" view at any time.

 

The new Compact Mode for track lists is rolling out in the desktop app and Web Player right now so you should be seeing it soon. This has been a highly requested feature since the redesign came out a few years ago.

 

Desktop Compact List Mode.png

Comments
tinyjams

Can't believe this still isn't fixed. Meanwhile, my "idea" to be able to add and customize the columns was just closed because it didn't get enough support. Spotify DOES NOT CARE about its users, just their bottom line. The best thing we can collectively do is CANCEL OUR SUBSCRIPTIONS.

ScienceofSpock

I can't believe this is still MISSING. What the **bleep** is wrong with the devs here? Why haven't you brought back the artist column yet? Is it because you are trying to diminish the importance of the artist on your platform? Sure seems that way. This has been sitting in LIMBO for almost TWO YEARS now. We gathered the required votes, and since then we have heard CRICKETS. WHEN are you going to fix this error on your part?

bdoran1

Why isn’t 22 pages of comments speaking to remedy this seemingly corporate decision (this doesn’t benefit the end user) enough to garner a response from Spotify? 

Playmo

Basic functionality... sort music by the artist... is missing in Spotify. Unbelievable.

 

Why not let users decide themselves which columns they want? It's not too difficult programming.

DawnBlack

Now being forced to use the 'new' desktop Spotify app, and I can't believe after all this time they still haven't fixed this. Why not give us options on how we would like to have our Spotify function, some optional settings that you can turn on/off would be ideal. I have a column for Album but not a seperate one for song and artist? Makes no sense at all!!

tinyjams

Best solution I've found - make the switch to Tidal. So far, so good!

davidwhiting

Will Spotify ever care at all about the user experience and fix this incredible basic problem that makes no logical sense why they would ever do it this way?

 

Of course not.

 

I don't know why they even have this community forum. They should just post a message saying "We made the app worse again and we don't care how you feel about it. Hahahahahahaha" because honestly that's how it feels every time there's a desktop app update.

 

I notice the new sidebar is absolutely horrible and they still don't have an artist column. It's just beyond belief how little they care about UX at this company, especially in the desktop app; it's totally baffling.

ManMachine

Got a mail that I will be forced to upgrade the desktop app.  Any news on fixing this layout issue?

tinyjams

I don't think this will ever be fixed, the issue we're not happy with is intended functionality.

 

This forum is useless and only here to make us feel like we have some sort of impact. They don't actually take any of these ideas or comments to heart.

 

This very active thread on the desktop app was closed today for no reason ("outdated" .. ok) https://community.spotify.com/t5/Community-Blog/The-New-Desktop-App/bc-p/5575863#M22851

 

And moved to another thread with a completely different topic. A little subtle attempt to shut us up.

poopface6546165

It is absolutely UNNECESSARY to have to click the Title / Artist combo column FOUR times just to get a given play list or library to sort to however I want it. While it cleans the GUI up, I'd rather have the functionality and convenience of being able to A. being able to see the artist name in a DEDICATED column, and B. Have to be able to click no more than TWO times (for ascending order or descending order) to sort a given list. Good function in this case is at good expense of aesthetics and that expense is WORTH IT.